(VOVworld) – Pyongyang has sentenced two South Korean nationals to life imprisonment on charges of espionage.

Choe Chun-gil, one of two South Koreans charged with espionage by North Korea, appeared before a state-orchestrated press conference in Pyongyang on March 26. He was sentenced to life in prison with hard labor on Tuesday. (Photo: KCNA/Yonhap)

Pyongyang's state media agency KCNA announced Tuesday that Kim Kuk-gi and Choe Chun-gil were arrested in March and detained for allegedly collecting confidential state information on orders from South Korea's spy agency and the US.

Last Wednesday Pyongyang expelled two Koreans who were accused of crossing illegally into North Korea in May.